Festival of the Walls
by silvershadowling
Summary: It's the Annual Festival of the Walls, and Hange reflects on it, her fallen comrades, the new recruits, as well as her relationship with Levi.


The music began, streaming out of the musicians rusty old instruments. One would think that time would have diminished the sound value, and yet the noise emitted was as equally loud and festive as when they were first played years ago. Hange wondered if it had to do with the musicians passion. She bet if she tried to pick it up, that it would not be capable of releasing such wonderful music, but rather horrible tunes.

As her mind wandered on the subject, her body swayed to the music. Despite the cool breeze she remained warm, having drank a fair share of wine before the festivities even began. Every year there was a celebration. A celebration on their being there, celebrating another year lived inside the walls.

It was always the same soft yellow lights, lanterns on strings, lighting up the plaza, and the light brown adobe walls. Some decorations here and there, less and less over the years, but still there never the less. Children running all around, some playing others trying to get away with swiping a drink or two, drunken adults dancing with one another, loud laughter and cheering. It was always the same scene.

As a young child she had often confronted the event with slight bitterness, sour at the fact it symbolized another year they had been forced to live within the confines of the walls. The first few years on the scouting legion she hated the even. Where as a child she was spiteful towards it, it came to the point where she felt nothing but hatred for it. Every festivity, she would look out at all the smiling faces, and feel nothing but misery in her heart. She would imagine all her fallen comrades smiling faces the years previous, and how they were no longer around. She would see them die before her eyes over and over again, and if she thought about it, she could still. So she didn't think about it anymore. She didn't let the thought of it consume her. Hatred did nothing. In fact for the longest time it clouded her judgment. She would go out and blindly kill the titans. It wasn't until she realized how ridiculously light their bodies where, that she really began researching them. Instead of blindly killing them, she decided to find out about them, see if she could find weaknesses. If she just kept on hating them, sure it would wipe a few out, but it would in no way benefit humanity. Her energy was better spent in other places.

So now, now she resented the event a little less, being thankful to have made it another year. Sure it wasn't as though her darker feeling had all gone away, she just choose not to give in to them.

She stood up, slightly swaying, both from the drinks she had had, as well as from the music. She made her way towards the table to grab another glass of wine, moving herself to the music lightly. Before she even knew it she had already drowned the drink. She smirked a bit and against her better judgment just grabbed a bottle of wine instead.

Everything was rationed these days, food was scarce but it was the festival, the biggest celebration of the year, and so food and wine was shared for all. Granted those in the inner walls had much more of everything, but they had enough down here.

With a loud "pop" she took of the top as she watched it shoot out into the crowd and hit someone on the head.

The person was short in stature with black hair. Had she hit Heichou? She laughed at the thought before taking a swig of the bottle. She would find out soon enough if it was him. She heard someone call out her name from behind her.

"Hange!" She turns to face the voice. It was Armin, Mikasa and Eren. She waves at them. They were some of newest members of the survey corps. They were all still just kids though, just as she was when she first joined. They had already faced such huge hardships, and would face so many more. She wondered how many of their friends they would see die? She shook the thought out of her head the closer they came.

"Yoo hoo!" She yelled out laughing. The kids got taken back a little before laughing too. They still didn't know what to make out of Hange just quite yet.

"What's up kiddo's?"

"Oh well we just saw you by the table by yourself. We just wanted to ask if you wanted to join us over there?" Armin asked.

"Oh haha, sure! Lead the way!" She yelled out, swinging one hand around Armin and the other around Mikasa, bottle still in hand. They snaked their way through the crowded streets and once more she felt herself get lost in thought.

She looked at the trio. Mikasa was going to make it far, she was a great fighter. Armin...he wasn't strong, but what he lacked in physical strength he more than made up with his brain. She considered taking him on as a protege of sorts. You know so he could continue her work on for her if anything was to happen, which was always a possibility. She wasn't quite sure, while he was the only other person she had found whom she would not mind working with in such a way, she wasn't quite sure. There was something about him, it was as if he was already on his own mission. While she should have loved to have had him help her out, like Moblit, she felt it would be unfair to take him away from whatever it was he was chasing, but perhaps she would ask him to help out once in a while. She was sure together they could come up with something brilliant.

Speaking of Moblit, that poor man. Levi had charged him with watching after Hange knowing how careless she could be. He was almost always a nervous wreck. It was nice to know he was always at her side and was loyal despite how crazy she drove him. Hange thought about finding him, but decided against it. He should spend some time away from her, it would help him unwind. She knew he would probably keep worrying about her regardless, but this way he could at least have a chance to enjoy himself some. Then again, every chance he got, he would drink himself into a stupor, actually now that she thought about it, he probably drank the most out of the whole team, she didn't blame him though.

She was suddenly pulled back, out of her thoughts. She realized they had stopped walking. She saw all the new recruits, well the ones still around. They were drinking and dancing with one another in their own little corner. For a moment she felt as though she should leave, maybe she was intruding on their fun. She was about to take a step back before she felt someone reach for her hand.

It was Armin.

"Let's dance commander" He said with a smile. She smiled back and laughed her laugh. She took a large gulp of the wine before setting it down and letting Armin lead her into the floor. She grabbed his other hand and started swinging them around. She threw her head back and laughed. She was having so much fun. He laughed as well, a bit nervously at first. but then more relaxed. She looked over at Mikasa who had dragged Eren into the floor with her, not without a fight of course. He was yelling at her, but she ignored his cries, he eventually gave in and danced with her, blushing all the while. Armin tried to awkwardly spin her around, but not having much experiencing dancing, let alone with those taller than him, he failed and almost ended up sending the slightly drunk commander spinning into a chair.

This went on for a few songs before she heard a "tch". Ah yes, her angry little...friend?

"May I cut in?" He asked. Armin backed away, "Sure!" It was not as though he would have said no. It didn't matter if it wasn't an order, Armin was too scared, and respected. Levi too much to not listen to him in even a situation like this. In a flash he was gone.

The commander took her hand and spun her around, far more expertly than Armin had.

"That bottle stopper hurt asshole." he whispered as he dipped her. She felt her lips curl up in a mischievous smile.

"So it was you."

"Your breath reeks of alcohol."

"Haha, yeah, didn't even drink that much though…anyways you're one to talk, I can smell the alcohol on you too."

"Tch."

She pulled him in close to her. He didn't resist. She took charge of the dance, and he went along with it too.

She was a little surprised he actually bothered to dance with her. He wasn't one to partake in such activities normally. Usually he would drink a bit and sit in a corner and brood.

She heard some cheering she looked over. Sasha and Connie were all over each other. About damn time. Life was too short. She looked at some of the other recruits, Ymir was dancing with Christa, Mikasa had finally let Eren take a break. Armin had sat down with them too and was chatting away with them. Jean was chatting with one of the trainee's. She was glad to see them having a good time. They deserved it after all the terrible things they had seen...and would see. Moment's like these where precious.

She looked up and noticed the sky was dark enough that she could make out the stars now. She felt a bit sad.

"Hange."

She looked down.

"I'm alright." She said, and gave him a smile, with less gusto, but a genuine one. She liked dancing with him, she liked him. Did he like her? She didn't know. She didn't know if he liked anyone, or if he was even capable of liking someone like that. Sure they had messed around a few times, but it was mostly when they needed someone there, that they would find one another. But it never really went further than that. She didn't mind, she would take these moments with him if that was all they ever did. She would cherish them.

"Hey. Want to get out of here?"

"Huh. Yeah, let me get my bottle back first."

She ran out to get it, but he grabbed her wrist firmly.

"I don't want you to be too drunk. I need to talk to you."

"Oh. Okay." She left her objective and followed him. He lead her down an isolated alley. She could still see the stars from here.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"..."

She stood there looking up at the sky, waiting for him to find the right words. She knew he never did have a way with words, but that was okay, she understood him anyways.

"I wanted to ask you something. We've known each other for a decent amount of years now. I've been reflecting on a lot of things lately, mostly involving you."

Oh...what was this? This was curious. She wondered what the hell he was about to say.

She looked down towards him, curious.

"I...The mission is getting more and more complicated. Our enemies will be after us all soon when we take action soon. If everyone's suspicions are right, then we will face more danger than we ever have before."

She nodded. That's right, the mission, figuring out the real enemy, and the meaning behind it all. She wondered what was going to happen next.

"One never knows how long we have, I want you to know that, I'm glad I met you. You...you mean a lot to me. Thank you."

Well...he almost said it.

"I love you too." She said.

'...I was about to say that. I wasn't finished." he said with a slight scowl, trying to think of how to go about it now.

"Oh...hahaha well."

"I was going to say...I...love you...and would be honored, if you… would spend the rest of the time we have on this planet by my side."

"Of course." She said smiling. Damn. He actually said it. Took some effort on his part but he said it.

She reached for his hand, and intertwined his fingers with hers. Neither one of them was the marrying type, however, they did care for one another very much. This was probably as closest to a declaration of marriage either one of them would ever get too, and that was just fine for the both of them.

He leaned in close and closed the distance between them in a fierce kiss. There grip on one another hands tightened. And she close her eyes, taking in the moment. Yes, it was good to have nice moments like these.

When her clothes fell to the floor, she heard the music waft into the alley once more. The sounds that came out of the instruments really was quite nice.


End file.
